Wednesday, May 8, 2013
The 48 Ways to Acquire to Torah: Set People at Peace
11:12 AM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
The next of the 48 ways to acquire Torah is set people at peace. This means that a person helps others to find inner peace in a world that can be in turmoil. There are many reasons why a person may not be at peace.
It could stem from past experiences that have not gone away or a decision that one has to make that makes one uncomfortable. It could also be the epic battle that goes on between body and soul that leaves a person on edge.
This battle is constant as the body and soul are constantly fighting for supremacy. The body wants to overcome the spiritual through his physicality while the soul tries to "spiritualize" the body and sanctify it. Each one looks to beat the other which causes a person to be in constant conflict.
Inner peace means to be able to have both body and soul coexist without one trying to obliterate the other. The body needs the soul, otherwise it could not exist while the soul needs the casing of the body to be able to "live" in this world.
The soul, through the performance of the mitzvos can strengthen and beautify the body with its actions, and the two can work hand-in-hand. Although the spiritual soul comes from above, it is put in a physical body to be able to use the physical and turn it into the spiritual.
How do we do that? If we eat an apple, we think of what went into its creation and nurturing to be able to be eaten. I take this physical piece of food and make a blessing on it and sanctify its existence for the sake of my hunger and spirituality at the same time.
This means I can take a simple physical act, make a blessing by invoking G-d's name and thanking for creating it so I could get benefit from it. If I think in these terms and always keep this in the back of my head, then I have this inner peace that allows to live and benefit in this world on my way to becoming the spiritual person I can!
It could stem from past experiences that have not gone away or a decision that one has to make that makes one uncomfortable. It could also be the epic battle that goes on between body and soul that leaves a person on edge.
This battle is constant as the body and soul are constantly fighting for supremacy. The body wants to overcome the spiritual through his physicality while the soul tries to "spiritualize" the body and sanctify it. Each one looks to beat the other which causes a person to be in constant conflict.
Inner peace means to be able to have both body and soul coexist without one trying to obliterate the other. The body needs the soul, otherwise it could not exist while the soul needs the casing of the body to be able to "live" in this world.
The soul, through the performance of the mitzvos can strengthen and beautify the body with its actions, and the two can work hand-in-hand. Although the spiritual soul comes from above, it is put in a physical body to be able to use the physical and turn it into the spiritual.
How do we do that? If we eat an apple, we think of what went into its creation and nurturing to be able to be eaten. I take this physical piece of food and make a blessing on it and sanctify its existence for the sake of my hunger and spirituality at the same time.
This means I can take a simple physical act, make a blessing by invoking G-d's name and thanking for creating it so I could get benefit from it. If I think in these terms and always keep this in the back of my head, then I have this inner peace that allows to live and benefit in this world on my way to becoming the spiritual person I can!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment